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Australia’s refugee intake – Budget 2012

by Team Oyeniyi - May 8, 2012



Budget Media Release

I’ll admit tonight I am VERY confused. I happened to notice the budget statement
in relation to our humanitarian visa program for the 2012 -2013 year.

“‘Australia resettles the third largest number of refugees of any
country, and we resettle more refugees, per capita, than any other nation”

http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb186539.htm

Now this seemed, to me, to contradict a lot of the media releases from refugee advocacy
groups about how many refugees we take. I decided to do a little research of my own.

According to the UNHCR 2011 statistics, Australia took 0.98 refugees per 1,000 population,
or 21, 805. That does not look like the “third largest number of refugees of any country”.

I looked at some other rather well-known countries (other countries take more, these are a selection only):

Sweden: 82,629 - 8.81 per 1,000 population
Switzerland: 48,813 - 6.37 per 1,000 population
Germany: 594,269 - 7.22 per 1,000 population
France: 200,687 - 3.20 per 1,000 population
Canada: 165,549 - 4.87 per 1,000 population
United Kingdom: 238,150 - 3.84 per 1,000 population
United States: 264,574 - 0.85 per 1,000 population
Thailand: 96,675 - 1.40 per 1,000 population

[ from the UHHCR link below Australia: 0.98 per 1,000 population ]

That’s enough transcribing for me. All the statistics can be found on the UNHCR site. ..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jun/20/refugee-statistics-unhcr-data ..
By the look of it, Australia is well down the list, which is
consistent with what I read from refugee advocacy groups.

Australia is designating 13,750 places under the humanitarian program in
2012–13. Am I the only one who finds the media release rather confusing?

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) seems to confirm my thoughts:
Australia’s world ranking 2010:

• By total no. refugees: 46th

• By pop. size (per capita): 69th

• Wealth (GDP) per capita: 79th

http://www.asrc.org.au/resources/statistics/

Who on earth wrote the budget media release? What sources did that writer use to substantiate
the glowing assertions about Australia’s contribution to the global humanitarian crisis?

Is this a pretty good example of “spin”?

What is your opinion? Please share, because I’d love to know how we can reconcile the facts with the media release!

Related articles

Canada to accept more refugees
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/rssReference.php?headline=Canada+to+accept+more+refugees&NewsID=330630
Asylum seekers to experience homestay
http://rowenadelarosayoon.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/asylum-seekers-to-experience-homestay/
Asylum Seekers in Australia: more of the same
http://teamoyeniyi.com/2012/02/07/asylum-seekers-in-australia-more-of-the-same/
Unbalanced article fuels moral panic
http://teamoyeniyi.com/2012/05/06/unbalanced-article-fuels-moral-panic/

http://teamoyeniyi.com/2012/05/08/australias-refugee-intake-budget-2012/